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Interview with Senator John Barrasso; Where are the Jobs?; Entire Town Evacuated After Train Inferno; U.S. Economy Adds over 100,000 Jobs in September; U.S. Unemployment Remains at 9.1 percent; Previous Month Job Growth Revised Up; Actor John Ratzenberger Interviewed about American Manufacturing Jobs; William Shatner Discusses Politics

Aired October 07, 2011 - 07:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The president takes a stand in favor of taxing millionaires. I'm Carol Costello. That money will be used to pay for his jobs plan, but as you may expect, Republicans do not like it.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And a brand-new snapshot of the economy. I'm Christine Romans. In just a few minutes, the government's new jobs report. Will it be welcome news for you, your job and the recovery? We'll break it down and show you where, if anywhere, there is hiring, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you. Happy Friday. It is October 7th. Ali Velshi, the Yankee fan, took the day off because he was too heartbroken.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Go Detroit.

ROMANS: And he just can't get out of bed.

But first up, breaking news. Live pictures now. An entire town in Illinois told to get out, to evacuate after a train derailed and at least three tanker cars exploded. The fire's still burning right now. This is the town of Taskila (ph). About 800 people live there. It's about 115 miles west of Chicago. The train was transporting ethanol.

COSTELLO: The jobs report for September will be released in just about 30 minutes. Economists expect the United States added only about 60,000 jobs. Unemployment in this country as really been a thorn in the president's side ever since he took office. And yesterday, a defiant President Obama promised to keep pressing Congress to pass his jobs bill, even though its prospects look pretty bleak.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We -- we will just keep on going at it and hammering away until something gets done. And I would love nothing more than to see Congress act so aggressively that I can't campaign against them as a do-nothing Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The $447 billion bill is due for a vote in the Senate next week. President Obama also insisting that any senator who's thinking about voting against his jobs bill needs to explain why.

Well, joining me now is Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming.

Good morning, Senator.

SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R), WYOMING: Thanks for having me on AMERICAN MORNING, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you for being here.

So, you heard the president yesterday, he said Republicans have to explain themselves. But, in your mind, have Republicans already done that?

BARRASSO: Well, absolutely. And, you know, there are a lot of Democrats who don't support the president's proposal either. We asked for a vote on the Senate floor twice this week and Harry Reid, the Democrat leader of the Senate, blocked the vote on the president's own jobs bill.

So, the president is out there saying, vote for it. And the Democrats in the Senate don't want a vote because they don't want to have to support it. They realize this is just stimulus two.

The first stimulus failed. The president promised if you pass that stimulus that the unemployment rate would stay below 8. Instead, it went to over 10. We still have 14 million Americans looking for work.

This is not the way to get the economy going.

COSTELLO: Right. And still, Senator, if I may interrupt, we still have no action in Congress and that really frustrates many Americans.

And let me just run this by you because yesterday -- you know, we all talk about this as not the time for political gamesmanship and we all say that, but last night when Democrats were trying to pass this China currency bill, Republicans wanted to add an unrelated amendment on the president's jobs bill and, of course, Democrats blocked that by establishing new rules and that set off this tizzy in the chamber.

I mean, isn't this exactly the kind of gamesmanship the president was talking about?

BARRASSO: Well, they blocked two amendments that I wanted to bring. One that said that we ought to not export jobs, cement jobs, construction jobs, to China. They blocked that. It was completely relevant.

Another one I wanted to do was have a jobs impact statement on all pieces of legislation, just like we have environmental impact statements to see how different --

COSTELLO: But the real reason behind this was --

BARRASSO: And they blocked that, as well. So, we need to get --

COSTELLO: But the real reason behind it was to debate the president's jobs bill right on the spot. So, it kind of like threw a wrench the into China currency bill, which has some bipartisan support.

BARRASSO: The president said, "Pass my jobs bill now." He said it every stop along his trip, along the way. Every time the Republicans try to bring his jobs bill up for a vote, the Democrats block it. They don't want to vote for this either.

The president said, explain it. I'd invite the president to come to my home state of Wyoming where I can explain it to him and to my constituents. And, you know, the Democrat senator from the state north of Wyoming, Montana, Jon Tester, he has opposed it, as well.

We are as bipartisan opposition to the president's plan of borrowing and spending and over-regulating and threatening tax increases. That's not a way to get the economy going.

I want to make it easier and cheaper for the private sector to create jobs and the president continues to find ways to make it harder and more expensive for the private sector to create jobs.

COSTELLO: And, Senator, you are right, Democrats do not like the way the president wants to pay for his plans. There's some dissent among the ranks of Democrats as well.

I wanted to ask you about these Wall Street protests. They spread nationwide now. Thousands of people are participating.

What do you make of that?

BARRASSO: Well, it sounds like many of them are being paid by unions to do that, to foment disorder out there.

We need to get people back to work. Fundamentally, that's what we need to do. The president ignored the job market for the last two and a half years. I'm glad he's starting to pay attention.

COSTELLO: So, you think most of these people -- you agree with Herman Cain, the presidential candidate, who said he believes that these protests were orchestrated and he also believes that these people should not complain about not getting a job, they should go out and find one. Let's listen to a bit of Herman Cain and we'll talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you are envious of somebody who happens to be rich that you call a fat cat, go and get rich instead of expecting them to walk outside of the office and write you a check. That's not the way America works. Work for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Does Mr. Cain have a point, Senator?

BARRASSO: Well, we're a nation of equal opportunity, not guaranteed results. And I want to do things to provide more opportunities for all Americans. And when the president's plan takes away those opportunities, I don't think that's helpful.

I have a whole jobs program that I introduce would a number of different western senators and a jobs opportunity plan for red, white and blue American jobs. It's 20 pages and you can go to that and I would suggest that the president do that, as well. This is the way to get so many Americans back to work.

COSTELLO: Going back to the protesters and why they're protesting, Senator, do you think they have a legitimate frustration?

BARRASSO: Well, I think a lot of people in this country that are very frustrated because they can't find work and a lot of it has to do with the policies coming out of this administration. You know, the president inherited a bad situation and his policies have made it worse.

COSTELLO: But, I guess I just want -- Herman Cain and you just said that you believe that unions are behind these protests. But the unions really didn't get involved until weeks later and, you know, a lot of people are now co-opting this group and it's growing.

But at some point, it was organic and the anger was directed at Wall Street. Do you think that the anger is directed in the right place?

BARRASSO: I think people want to work. We have many people around the country that cannot find a job and the policies that make it harder and more expensive for the private sector to create jobs is what's keeping people out of work. We need to make it easier and cheaper for the private sector to create jobs so we have more people working. That will raise the tax revenue coming in to the country and will help us deal with our deficit and our debt.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Senator, for being with us this morning. We appreciate it.

BARRASSO: Thank you, carol.

ROMANS: And, Carol, you know, he's right, 14 million Americans are out of work. If you're one of those 14 million, you're thinking about where can I find a job? Today, what industries are hiring?

Well, there are 3 million jobs open right now -- 3 million. Here's a look at seven jobs, seven categories in high demand even now in this economy.

The first one is retail workers. Average pay here, $25,000 a year. So, you're not going to send a kid to college, but retailers are looking to hire half a million temporary workers with the holidays coming up. That's according to the National Retail Federation.

The major trains often hire these temp workers full time after the holidays. We definitely saw that last year. So, retail workers, there are jobs there.

Commercial truck driver -- we've been hearing about this for a couple years now. Maybe 350,000, 400,000 of these jobs. Average pay better than retail. If you can pass the commercial license's test, you can drive a truck. Your license will depend on the class of vehicle that you know how to drive. So, there you go, short term on the job training.

Next one here, industrial engineer. Sounds hard, guess what? It is. And it takes an education, but the pay is commensurate.

Manufacturing and electrical companies are fighting tooth and nail for people with these skills. These are people who can look at the manufacturing process at a car factory, for example, and figure out ways to streamline things and increase efficiency and increase the bottom line.

Online job postings are up 28 percent over the past four months, according to Monster.com.

Here's the next one: software engineer. You hear us talk about this all the time. Average pay is pretty good here, too. If you know how to write software, build a mobile app, coda Web site, chances are, you're going to be able to find work here. The Labor Department expects very strong growth in this sector over the next few years.

Health care, nurses. Pay there can be even better than this with more training. With so many aging baby boomers getting older and needing medical care. The Labor Department expects the need for nurses to grow by about 22 percent over the next six years.

Here's a smaller job category, but interesting nonetheless and hiring: professional cook. We're talking about top chef type people. Professional cooks hot commodities at hotels and restaurants often swept up by the competition at the drop of a hat.

So, there are job openings here, not as many as retail and say truck drivers, but they are there.

And, finally, accountant, one of my favorite job categories because of the pay, also because of the flexibility of moving around the country. Even though there are tons of people graduating from business schools with degrees in accounting, these jobs are still hard to fill because they're often very specific for each state and industry.

Monster says online job postings for these jobs are up 12 percent or so over the past few months.

So, for more information on these industries and job openings, you can go to CNNMoney.com -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Christine.

Let's talk about those Wall Street protests. You can now feel it's now becoming something bigger. As we enter the fourth week of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement today, it's gone nationwide. The message is spreading like the hottest viral video. And people aren't laughing so much any more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): It started out as a joke.

JON STEWART, COMEDIAN: How are they not like the Tea Party? All right. Some of them smoke and have pants made out of pot. So, call them the THC party.

COSTELLO: Now has swelled into a nationwide movement, mostly peaceful, but certainly PO'd.

CROWD: We got sold out.

COSTELLO: And ready to eat the rich.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is like a performance (INAUDIBLE). The corporate zombie march.

REPORTER: OK. And I see the money hanging out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the breakfast.

COSTELLO: From 1,000 protesters on Wall Street, it has gained momentum and spread to tens of thousands of people from New York to Los Angeles and dozens of cities in between. Even across borders and oceans. These people are angry that they're running second place to profits.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want jobs. We want jobs and we want them now.

COSTELLO: That their quality of life is plunged while the rich get super rich or the taxpayers bail them out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Politicians can be bought. Political influence can be bought through political donations.

COSTELLO: In Los Angeles, protesters took over a Bank of America and were arrested. And in Philly, thousands broke out in their battle cry. We are the 99 percent.

It has some bigwigs on Wall Street looking out their windows. And, now, the White House is paying attention.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Obviously, I've heard of it, I've seen it on television. I think it expresses the frustrations that the American people feel. That we had the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression and that's going to express itself politically in 2012 and beyond until people feel like, once again, we're getting back to some old-fashioned American values.

COSTELLO: Still, getting organized ain't easy and it's too early to say whether these protesters will become a political force, a Tea Party from the left. Same frustrations from the other side. But there's plenty of time until next November.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-four/seven, if necessary, 365. We're planning on snow. We're planning on summer heat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The protests are actually costing taxpayers more. According to the New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, it cost his department $2 million in overtime already and the tab will only rise in the coming days.

ROMANS: All right. Back to our breaking news this morning. Live pictures right now. You can see the sun starting to rise in the Midwest, but this fire is still burning in Illinois, an entire town being told to get out after a train derailed and at least three tanker cars exploded.

COSTELLO: This is in the town of Tiskilwa, about 800 people live here. It's 115 miles west of Chicago. The train was transporting ethanol alcohol which, of course, when it's set aflame it lets the smoke carries these poisonous vapors and that's why the town was evacuated and, of course, chemical fires are notoriously hard to put out and that's why it's taking firefighters so long.

ROMANS: So, we'll continue to watch that as the sun comes up, you can see that fire still burning. It has been burning now for, I think, six hours or so.

So, there you go. Still ahead, you know him as know-it-all postal clerk, oh, yes, Cliff Clavin from the "Cheers." Cliff Clavin is here. John Ratzenberger got a second career as a social activist whose cause: getting America's jobless back to work. John Ratzenberger joins us a little later this morning.

COSTELLO: And William Shatner joins us, too. Award-winning actor, TV pitchman and all around good guy says he's wised up over the years. He has some advice on navigating life. So, we're asking him about today's rough political climate.

Should President Obama channel Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock?

COSTELLO: And meet the man who plans to run where no man has run before -- the face of the moon. Can it even be done? It turns out yes, it can. And this guy is serious.

A CNN exclusive as we jog alongside during his training.

It's 13 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is a perfect day in Detroit, Michigan. Partly cloudy and 52 and, yes, it's going 78 and partly cloudy later today, but the real news that's making Detroit happy. The tigers beat the Yankees.

ROMANS: Oh, they did? I didn't know, Carol.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: It was like the greatest game ever. It was a nail biter. So, now, the Tigers play the Texas Rangers. Hopefully, they can win the pennant now.

ROMANS: All right. This next gentleman has run more than 10,000 miles raising money and awareness for a variety -- he has run 10,000 miles, and now, athlete and philanthropist, Jonathan Prince, has set his sights a bit higher, actually, a lot higher. He wants to run on the moon.

COSTELLO: Crazy, Jason Carroll.

(LAUGHTER)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, crazy. I don't know. Remember, when Richard Branson said he wanted to send people into the atmosphere. Look, what he's doing. It's happening. Space port is built. It can happen.

You know, it's not unusual to get a few raised eyebrows when Jonathan Prince talks about his goal, but he says he has the means, the method, and very soon, he says he'll be getting the training to make his galactic goal a reality.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): Skeptics said it couldn't be done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's one small step for man, one giant leap for man kind.

CARROLL: But not only did astronauts take that giant leap, they took a history-making golf swing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

CARROLL: That was more than 40 years ago. Now, one earthbound athlete is striving toward making another lunar milestone.

JONATHAN PRINCE, DISTANCE RUNNER: It feels like a dream, but it feels like living the dream. CARROLL: Jonathan Prince's dream, run a mile on the moon.

PRINCE: You can't help but stargaze at night, and I just wondered about the possibility of running the first mile on the moon.

CARROLL: Prince has finished ambitious runs in the past. In 2005, he ran from Los Angeles to New Orleans raising more than $100,000 for victims of Hurricane Katrina. His new goal, raise awareness in space travel while inspiring students to excel in science.

PRINCE: It's the demonstration for the current generations, and the generations are not yet born. You know, to go beyond.

CARROLL: The question is, how to get there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The final lift off of "Atlantis".

CARROLL: NASA retired its space shuttle program this year. So, Prince will go the private route, flying on board a rocket being develop by space exploration technologies, Space X, for short.

PRINCE: Private companies are now able to build rockets, fund it on their own and sell trips.

CARROLL: But first for Prince, there's training.

PRINCE: Typically, I reach around 100 to 120 miles a week.

CARROLL (on-camera): You have me beat by probably 120 miles.

(LAUGHTER)

CARROLL (voice-over): And that's just the beginning.

PRINCE: The gravity pressures, the buoyancy. Everything. I have to reprogram Everything I thought I knew about running.

CARROLL: Over the next few years, he'll learn about space travel at a private facility called NASTAR, the National Aerospace training and Research Center in Pennsylvania.

BRIENNA HENWOOD, NASTAR: We are currently training the generation of folks that are not the astronauts. Jonathan is at the forefront of leading this new industry.

CARROLL: Prince has received funding he needs from donors and sponsors and hopes to blast off by 2016. Until then, the 31-year-old continues training.

(on-camera) I know you must have heard from the people who say, that's a nice thing to say. Nice goal that you've got there, but there's no possible way you're going to be able to do it.

PRINCE: Absolutely. And you know, skepticism is just part of human nature, but at the same time, Kennedy had a dream to, you know, go to Apollo, go to the moon with Apollo mission. So, it's important to put massive action behind your dream.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: Well, in addition to his training, Prince will be peaking to students around the country, encouraging them to learn more about science and space exploration, and so many people have started to hear about what he's trying to accomplish or even Bono is getting in on this. He said that he wants to compose a song for him and to help inspire him to meet his goal.

COSTELLO: So, he's not going to do it for a little while, though. Like, how do you train for something like -- where do you train for something like that? You just can't just run around a track to run on the moon.

CARROLL: Well, he's going to be starting some of his training at NASTAR, as we explained. And, it's not just training on land. He's going to be doing training in the sea, as well, because, you know --

COSTELLO: But in NASTAR, isn't there like the anti-gravity?

CARROLL: Right. You go to G-force training, so you learn about, you know, the forces that you're going to encounter when you leave the atmosphere, and you're heading into space. A lot of training. It will take a few years in order to get it done. Again, he's hoping to accomplish this by 2016.

COSTELLO: Wow. I admire him.

ROMANS: Me, too.

CARROLL: And you know, maybe in the future, there'll be more.

ROMANS: Maybe. We'll see. Thanks, Jason.

COSTELLO: That'd be cool.

Now is your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the stories of the day. The question for you this morning, was ESPN right to part ways with Hank Williams Jr. Well, he doesn't care. He's so hot and mad he was out of there, anyway.

On his website, he blasts ESPN for stepping on the toes of the first amendment and adds, "Me, my song, and all my rowdy friends are out of here." ESPN said, in essence, don't let the door kick in yours because you're fired and here's why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You mean, when John Boehner played golf with President Obama?

HANK WILLIAMS JR., MUSICIAN: Come on, come on. It'd be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu. They're the enemy. They're the enemy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who's the enemy?

WILLIAMS: Obama and Biden. Are you kidding, the three stooges.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Hey, it's a free country and it's not like Hank Williams, Jr., chairs the Republican National Committee, well, here's Whoopi Goldberg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, HOST, THE VIEW: He's a musician. Musicians do provocative things, and I think of all the football players and all the musicians that have either taken a misstep or done something, you know, and what kind of standards are we holding folks to when we say, oh, no, we can't say, listen, man, that's not a good thing to do. So, instead, we pull.

COSTELLO: Right. Kind of sounds like what happened to the Dixie Chicks, remember? Natalie Maines said the Chicks were ashamed of President Bush because of his stance on Iraq. And while the Chicks weren't fired per se, they were blackballed by not only country music fans but by the country music establishment.

So, the talk back question today, was ESPN right to part ways with Hank Williams, Jr.? Facebook.com/americanmorning. Facebook.com/americanmorning. I'll read your comments later this hour.

ROMANS: All right. Twenty-three minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

COSTELLO: This terrible train derailment is still going on in Tiskilwa, Illinois. That's about a 100 miles west of Chicago. Because of this train derailment and the ensuing fire because this train was carrying chemicals, ethanol, to be specific, the entire tiny town of 800 had to be evacuated.

Joining us now on the phone is Kasey Kelly. She's from the American Red Cross. She is in -- you're in Molina, right? Molina, Illinois.

KASEY KELLY, AMERICAN RED CROSS (on the phone): Molina, Illinois, correct.

COSTELLO: Molina, Illinois. So, bring us up to date about what's happening in this tiny town.

KELLY: Sure. About four o'clock this morning, we were notified that the train had been derailed, and so, immediately, the American Red Cross went into action because we were told that the entire town needed to be evacuated for precautionary measures. So, we have opened a shelter at a local high school in Princeton, Illinois in order to provide people a place to go, a place to stay, to spend the day, to provide food, water and other services.

COSTELLO: And I would suspect that police are going door to door knocking on doors trying to get people out and to go into the shelter. Are people being pretty cooperative?

KELLY: Yes. It is a voluntary evacuation. So, no one is being forced out of their homes. The authorities are just suggesting that people leave for safety reasons just until the fire and the blaze is contained and taken care of.

COSTELLO: What's the concern here with this vapor, this smoke coming from these train cars?

KELLY: At this point, they're just not sure what to expect. And, so, what we've been told is just a precautionary measure. We're just evacuating. They're evacuating people just to be on the safe side.

COSTELLO: Kasey Kelly, thanks so much for joining us, and thanks for your efforts out there, and hopefully, people will evacuate even though it's voluntarily, you know, and take the safe route. Thanks so much for joining us.

Coming up next, the big September jobs report. Are more job seekers getting hired? We're not expecting great numbers, but what does that mean for our faltering economy. Christine Romans is monitoring it. She'll have an answer when we come back. It's just about 30 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Just in to CNN, the Labor Department report is out, and it says 103,000 jobs were added to the economy in September, better than Wall Street expected, and the unemployment rate remains at 9.1 percent. Remember economists were expecting 65,000 jobs to be added.

I want to break this down for you a little bit and show you how it fits into the overall picture, OK, because we had some revisions. Remember last month when zero jobs were created in August and that caused quite a stir because no job's growth is where we want to be? That is revised by the government. It is now 57,000 for this month. So a little bit better there. More than 57,000 if you had a line there, it would be right about there.

You also had a revision for July. It had been 85,000, that was revised to about 127,000. So, this line looks a little bit better -- and sorry about that, not very precise but that gives you an idea of late job's growth in late summer than we had thought. And again the unemployment rate at 9.1 percent.

Now, where you've seen a lot of job loss, local jobs. We lost more local jobs, government jobs, 34,000 of them after all in that one month and local governments. In the past two years the government says we have lost 535,000 local jobs. That tells you -- local government jobs. That shows you how these budget cuts are really hurting states and municipal governments.

Another thing here, I always talk to you about private sector jobs. Overall private sector job creation in the month was 137,000 private sector jobs. So, you take the private sector and you subtract the government factor and that's where you get the overall number. And 137,000 jobs in the private sector, it's not terrible, and it's not as bad as we've seen lately. So a little bit of activity on that front, and, again, it's a little bit better than people have been expecting.

I want to show you quickly overall because this is a political story overall. This is President Obama's tenure, since President Obama took office. When he began, this red is the recession. This red is the financial crisis and jobs being shed, hundreds of thousands of them. Then you saw some stabilization and you actually saw some increases because of census hiring and because of stimulus, and then things have faltered a little bit.

And, as I told you, this picture now looks a little bit better here, here, here, and here. So, there you go, that's what it looks like.

I want to bring in Jay Powell, visiting scholar for the bipartisan Policy Center. He also served as the treasury undersecretary and under President George H.W. Bush. It's not terrible. It certainly not what we need. Our frame of reference has changed over the past few years about what we'll accept as a decent jobs report. What's your reaction overall?

JAY POWELL, FORMER TREASURY UNDERSECRETARY: Christine, I think you said it right. I think this is good news. It's not great news. And 137,000 jobs in the private sector is pretty good and substantially higher than what was expected. I think 45,000 of that is just from the end of the Verizon strike, but, still, that's a good number. State and local governments as you point out continue to be an anchor to our progress and hold us back.

But, you know this beats the alternative. I think there is a real fear that the economy could go into reverse gear after the debt ceiling thing in August and early September. But this kind of points in the other direction. So it's welcome news.

ROMANS: It shows maybe at least a step back from the concern about a double dip recession right now.

POWELL: It does. Now, it does also leave in place a pretty awful employment market where you have 14 million unemployed Americans and 25 million who are either unemployed or underemployed. So, it's a mildly positively change.

ROMANS: We have a super committee that will have to come up with the recommendations for $1.2 trillion in revenue increases or spending cuts or some mix of both. And at the same time we're seeing 535,000 local government jobs lost over the past couple of years. Budget cuts are going to mean more jobs lost in that arena, right? It's very, very important here that the government gets it right about not starving the economy, but at the same time, showing that they're serious about deficit reduction. That's tricky.

POWELL: That is extremely tricky. That's the most difficult economic project of the age. And that's why many economists are recommending that we adopt a deficit reduction plan that puts in place strong measures in the medium and longer term without doing anything in the short term to derail this quite modest recovery.

ROMANS: Let me ask you a little bit about Europe. We're struggling with jobs here and we're watching people in the streets, thousands of people in the streets talking about jobs and opportunity, and they feel Wall Street is benefitting and they're not and Europe is something that's bubbling that really could have a pretty significant impact on how well the U.S. gets a recovery under way, doesn't it?

POWELL: Yes, it does. Europe is a major trading partner and a recession in Europe will definitely be felt here because fewer will buy our goods and services. In addition the sort of headline risk is just one more reason for businesses and consumers in America to go into the basement and hide, which we don't need at all.

I would say, though, our banks don't own a lot of European sovereign paper or money market funds and own a lot less European bank paper than they used to. So this crisis for Europe lacks the financial market contagion aspects of what happened in 2008 and 2009. But it's still not good for us. We will feel the European recession here.

ROMANS: I would say this job stability and what's happening in the European situation, both of these pieces of information to end the week, they still leave us on pins and needles, don't they? But we don't think right now we're in a new crisis.

POWELL: You can only say that it beats the alternative. We were looking at the front end of another double dip and this clearly points in the other direction. and there are other faint signs in the other economic news that also point away from the precipice and a return to very modest growth.

ROMANS: All right, 9.1 unemployment rate just to bring you up to speed, 103,000 jobs created overall but 137,000 private sector jobs. Jay Powell says it means that we're not at the precipice of a double- dip recession. We'll take it as good news, indeed, this morning. Thank you, sir, have a good weekend.

POWELL: You, too. Thanks, Christine.

ROMANS: Up next, getting Americans back to work is a cause very near and dear to John Ratzenberger's heart, Cliff Clavin, the know-it- all from "Cheers." Just like Cliff, John Ratzenberger knows what he's talking about. He joins us live in our studio next. It's 38 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: OK, there's a reason we're playing that song. Good morning, Washington, D.C. It's sunny and 56 degrees right now. Later on today it's going to be a beautiful 73 degrees.

OK, now, to the song. Pop star Shakira is working with president Obama. The Columbian born performer has been named to the president's advisory commission on educational excellence for Hispanics. She will be at the White House today for meetings and then a swearing in ceremony on Capitol Hill. Shakira says early childhood development is key to improving education for Hispanics here in the United States.

The government reporting just minutes ago that 103,000 jobs were added in September. Christine's been getting into that. And that is better than expected. That is a good thing.

ROMANS: It sure is better than expected. Remember last month in August when everyone was concerned that no jobs were created, that number was revised. It turns out 57,000 jobs were created and July had more jobs created, as well. Not really enough to make a dent in the overall unemployment rate, of course, but a little more momentum than many had feared.

So, where are the jobs, and are those actually jobs out there but there aren't people qualified enough to fulfill them? That's something to hear from employees. Joining me now is actor John Ratzenberger. He's also a senior fellow at the Center for America. And you, sir, are passionate about skills, training for skills, manufacturing jobs, and getting people the training they need to keep these jobs here.

JOHN RATZENBERGER, ACTOR & SENIOR FELLOW, CENTER FOR AMERICA: Well, it's also for me it's to dance with the one who brought you. The civilization that we've created here was created by manufacturing. It was people skilled in carpentry and brick laying and electricity to be able to create a civilization, the sewers and all the infrastructure. We're still living off the infrastructure that our grandparents created.

ROMANS: That's right.

JOHN RATZENBERGER: What we're doing now, or what we're not doing is training people to fill those shoes.

ROMANS: How do we do that? How do we, is it vocational training?

JOHN RATZENBERGER: Yes, vocational training, and because we bought into the philosophy that everyone has to go to college. Well, the bureau of statistics just came out with the numbers that by 2020 is going to be 10 million of those jobs unfilled.

ROMANS: Skilled labor jobs.

JOHN RATZENBERGER: Skilled labor. The average age is about 56 years old. Try to get a brick layer to come to your house. It's not going to happen for two, three weeks and they may or may not take the job because there are so few of them now.

ROMANS: One of the things interesting to me. Most of these are ladder jobs, meaning you can start and your pay increases as you go. You need it be good at it and need on-the-job training and disciplined. It's not just for anybody but there are a lot of careers out there, if you can match the skills of the kid, our government doesn't do that very well.

JOHN RATZENBERGER: Like we used to do. We bought into the fallacy that everyone has to go to college. Our answer to it is the 10 by 20 program. You can download a handbook on how you can help anywhere in the country no matter who you are or what you do. You can go to the schools and talk about vocational training and if you have a factory. Go to the schools and have the kids tour the factory.

But we need to bring honor and respect back to those trades. Germany does it, oh, Mercedes-Benz. That's the other thing, too. Driving a car from India and you're wondering where the jobs went? It's because we taxed them out of the country.

ROMANS: We know where the jobs went and the jobs, quite frankly. Some people say that the prowls of a manufacturing job, the fact that you could have a high school education and take a lunch box and build a middle class for your family without a lot of education, we don't have that stepping stone. It's been pulled out from under us.

JOHN RATZENBERGER: Yes. Kids graduate from high school now. This is the president of a big aircraft company told me this -- kids graduate from high school without the ability to read a ruler. Very smart kids, but where in their whole lives are they going to read a ruler? Not playing a video game. If there are no more shop courses or home-ec courses, you have no idea about measurement. If you build something, you have to know how to measure. You can't start people when they're 22. You have to start them when they're young.

ROMANS: Everyone has different skills. Look at your own family. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. But do we have enough opportunities in the country in the job market and in the education system to absorb everybody, no matter what their skills are?

RATZENBERGER: Right now there are tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of jobs unfilled. I know somebody specifically in Chicago who could put 20 welders to work tomorrow, he can't find one.

ROMANS: Because they're not trained.

RATZENBERGER: No, they're trained welders out there but making such big money that they're not going to work for someone else.

ROMANS: Right, right, right.

RATZENBERGER: People actually raid other factories entice a welder to work for them. That's how desperate it is out there to find skilled workers. I call it necessary workers. Your job, my job --

ROMANS: We're unnecessary.

RATZENBERGER: Really. We provide a service, but if we disappeared overnight, people would be sad and our families and stuff, but the country would go on just fine. But if the truck drivers, the welders and carpenters all disappeared, we'd grind to a halt. I think for so long, since the '60s we have been honoring failure instead of success.

ROMANS: What do you mean?

RATZENBERGER: In the media. You have a carpenter come in on the screen, let's say it's a movie or TV show, they're depicted as being a buffoon or a drunk or a thief. And the hero is some 16-year-old pot smoking knucklehead that just kind of flops through life, but we've made them heroes.

ROMANS: I'm not sure I noticed that cultural shift. But I think the idea of, you know, honoring skilled work with your hands is something that the country just has to do. You can't outsource some of these jobs. If you are a good skilled laborer in this country and plumbers and welders and the like. These are the things that we should teach people how to do.

ROMANS: Or you can give them dignity and respect, as well. If you go to AOL this week, I'm hosting a program on there and where you can find jobs and those skilled trades.

ROMANS: John Ratzenberger, senior fellow of the Center for America and an American manufacturing activist. Very nice to meet you, sir. Have a great weekend.

RATZENBERGER: Thank you, and CenterforAmerica.org.

ROMANS: Thank you. Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Christine.

Morning headlines coming your way, next.

Also, have the wit and wisdom of William Shatner. Ali Velshi sits down with TV icon and gets some Shatner rules. It's 48 minutes past the hour.

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ROMANS: William Shatner, a Hollywood icon. His colorful career spanning some 50 years, and now at the age of 80 Shatner has written a book about how he got here.

COSTELLO: The book is called "Shatner Rules - Your Guide to Understanding the Shatner-verse and the World at large." Ali Velshi sat down with William Shatner to talk about a bunch of stuff. And then the talk turned to whales and politics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: There are some people who think that given the situation in the country right now, President Obama should be a little less Mr. Spock had and a little more Captain Kirk.

WILLIAM SHATNER, AUTHOR: Mr. Obama has got the onerous burden of obeying the constitution. Captain Kirk was captain of everybody's fate. He was a dictator. There was no constitution guaranteeing anybody's rights so he could dictate what would be the solution to the problem. We are going in, we're leaving. We're going sideways. Mr. Obama is forced to deal with members of his own party and members of the opposition. So, unless he were to become a dictator relating Kirk and Obama is unfair.

VELSHI: Anybody in the field that you're intrigued by? I'm not asking for endorsements or who you're going to vote for, but anybody you're intrigued by?

SHATNER: This country, less so in Canada, but also in Canada, is being torn apart by people of great passion who believe in their point of view. And to disparage that point of view is to lose the argument. There is something to be said for the fundamentalists on all sides of the political spectrum. The puzzlement but the necessity is to try and make that work, to get it to work. It's always worked before. There have always been people who have spent less, spent more. But we've always worked it out.

And this last few years has not been impossible. There have been things that are worked out. And we're approaching a crisis where people see the, not just the necessity, but the Armageddon of not cooperating.

VELSHI: Yes.

SHATNER: And hopefully the people we elect will see it, as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: You could see more online.

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ROMANS: World Series championship number 28 will have to wait. That's right, the Detroit Tigers knocking the New York yankees out of the playoffs last night. That's why we bring in Rob Marciano who has the day of but could not escape the I told you sos.

COSTELLO: You were supposed to be here in your Boston red sox uniform, Rob Marciano.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I told you two weeks ago I was taking the day off, and it's a dark day in the Marciano household, that's for sure.

ROMANS: Rob, do you have anything to say to carol?

MARCIANO: Well, I haven't been watching. I'm sure she's gloating. I would say this to the Tigers, congratulations. I'm ashamed of the Yankee fans that were there last night. I have never seen Yankee stadium so quiet. And, of course, you have to look at A- Rid, and I'm not a violent man, at least not anymore, and I just wanted to punch him in the nose last night.

ROMANS: Are you willing to say that the tigers are a better team than your Yankees? Are you willing to admit that?

MARCIANO: In a best of five series, I'm not willing to say that. If anything that major league baseball has done wrong in the last 10 years is implement not only the wildcard race but to do a five-game series.

COSTELLO: You are so deluded. You are deluded, Marciano. The announcers that announced that game were pro-Yankee fans. The Detroit Tigers put on one heck of a show and I love them. Papa Grande doing the dance, I wish he would have danced even harder.

MARCIANO: Well, they did play well, I'll give them that. The Yankees did not play well and the Tigers played well and they deserved to win last night. Congratulations.

ROMANS: I heard that, they deserved to win last night.

COSTELLO: The sincerity was just bleeding right out of him.

ROMANS: Rob, have a nice day off. I'm sorry, I'm sorry for you. I'm happy for Carol, I'm sorry for you. I'm just caught in the middle.

MARCIANO: Life goes on, guys. Have a good weekend.

COSTELLO: You too.

Let's throw it over to Kyra Phillips.

Good morning, Kyra.